The sudden rage in Ahuja catches Cyrus off guard. He
nods meekly and goes around the house to the terrace. Lovely potted ceramic
plats lined up at the entrance, leading to an aesthetically done sitting area,
confuse Cyrus all the more and Jen’s words come back to haunt him.
“That is how he manages to own a flat
and a guest house in posh localities in Bombay. Do you think a struggling
artist can afford all this?”
He knows that Jen is not the saint she is making herself out to be. She
must have her own motives to save Roohi. After all, the mystery of her
sudden disappearance and her casual reappearance at the climax of this
intriguing drama is a question that continues to bother him. However,
thinking of Roohi’s welfare, Cyrus has no option but to choose the lesser of the
two evils. He decides to play along with Jenny’s plan and rehearses the steps
in his head.

___________________________________________________________

“We need to get Ahuja
to come out” says ACP Sameer Thorat and pauses for a second. “We need to ensure that he leaves Roohi alone for
a while; that will give us a chance to attempt to save her with relatively
lesser risk,” he adds.

“Right. So, the only way is to
give him what he wants,” Jen replies as they settle down at a table on the
terrace of the cafe opposite the guest house.

“Green Tea” she says, not bothering to even look up at the
waiter. Her eyes are focused on Thorat
and thoughts start clearing up in her mind. “Make
that two” she adds impatiently, looking at Thorat fiddling with the menu
card. “That's it for now.” The
waiter leaves.

Forcefully, yet
politely, she lowers the menu card hiding his face and says “Can you concentrate? Getting this girl out of his hands without a
scratch is a big deal for me.”

“Okay. So where were
we?” he asks casually.

“We need to give him what he wants, to make him crawl out of his hole.”
she says.

“My hairs are going to
turn grey by the time I understand what you are saying. I am still trying to make sense of your reply
to my proposal years ago. For once,
please do me a favour and come to the point directly, as a girl's life is at
stake; not that I am not used to such situations.” he says, his eyes on the guest
house opposite. To his disappointment,
all is absolutely still.

“They want to know the password of the memory card, which I know. I just have to ask Shekhar to pass it on to
them”.

“What's the deal with
the memory card? What's in it to justify
gambling with a little girl’s life?” he asks quizzically.

“They think it has a photograph of a minister involved in a crime”
she answers and gets distracted with some movement in the guest house, opposite
them. “Look! Look! The kid is peeping out
of the window.” she says.

ACP Thorat looks in
the direction Jennifer is pointing. Although it is just a fleeting glimpse of
the child, it is like a feast to a starving man; they have been waiting for
hours now, just watching stillness and nothing more.

“Did you tell me it
involved a minister's photograph?” he asks, getting back to business.

“They think it does, but actually it doesn’t” she says.

'”How do you know the
password?” he asks.

“It's a little complicated. I had
sent Shekhar a blank memory card...,” she pauses and gathers her thoughts. “by...” she goes on reluctantly “mistake...” cringing at having to expose
her transgressions. ACP Thorat's calm
demeanour as he listens to her gives her the courage to blurt out “...instead of another memory card; his wife
being a journo pig leaked out the information to the media. That b**** didnt
think of Shekhar or her own kid.”

Thorat reflects for a
minute on what he has just heard. “Why
is a blank memory card protected with password?” he asks in his best professional
tone.

Jennifer feels trapped
and is reluctant to handle that question. She doesn’t want to tell him what a
fool she had been, wanting to woo a man who had ditched her years ago. She
doesn’t want to be judged, not by someone she thinks still loves her. Attention from an eligible bachelor is the
last thing a girl wants to lose.

Just
then the waiter brings them their orders, distracting the conversation, or from
Jen's point of view doing away completely with the need for further conversation. She is spared the trouble of coming up with a
convincing tale.

“Okay then. So I will call Shekhar
now and ask him to give them the password.” She deftly diverts the conversation, sipping
the green tea.

“Ew! This is so strong!!!” she wrinkles her nose and places the cup
back on the table.”

She excuses herself and
goes to call Shekhar. Although she had decided
to stay away from him, it is not so easy as she thought. Old memories are still too strong to allow
her to dissociate herself from him completely. She still has some love left for
him and wants to talk to him in private. Who knows, it might be the last time she hears
his voice.

“Hello Shekar, this is Jen. Hope your phone has a better memory and
remembers me, unlike you” she says, sarcastically.

“Before you start preaching about family, values and the other
bull shit, let me tell you ‘FAKE’ is the password for the memory card. I am on the scene trying to save Roohi, unlike
your wife who is more bothered about the brand of mascara her tears need to be
hidden under, and the colour of her lips when she pouts.” She disconnects the call without another word.

She masks her emotions
with a fake smile and walks back to the table. “I gave him the password. Now
things will go as per our plan. Cyrus
will tell Ahuja that this memory card is pseudo crypted and send him out to get
a guy's help to get it decrypted” she says.

'Perfect' says Thorat
sounding very impressed.

Jen picks up her bulky
camera and looks at the window of the guest house. All she could see are the curtains of the
french window drawn across, while what is happening behind it remains a mystery
to her.

What Jen can't see is
Roohi playing with her new Barbie doll. Cyrus
asks Ahuja to follow up with Shekhar and get the password. He tries his best to hide the anxiety and
tension in his face with a casual expression.

“Writer saab, bacchii
zinda maangta hai ke nahin” Ahuja asks biting a piece of cloth with his teeth,
to sound different than his usual voice. (Mr. Writer, do you want the child
back alive or not?)

Before he can complete,
Tara interrupts “Roohi ko kucch mut karo,
password ‘FAKE' hai,” she says spelling out the password at the end. (Don't
do anything to Roohi. Fake is the password.)

“Agar password fake nikla, toh soch lo.” Ahuja says firmly and disconnects
the call. (If the password is fake, you had it.) The unintended pun in Ahuja's threat is
ironical.

He loses no time in
bringing his laptop and trying the password to open the memory card folder. “Damn!
The memory card is empty” he eyes turn red in anger.

“I have read something about this. Highly confidential details are stored in an
encrypted form when they are on flash drives or such cards.” Cyrus fibs, trying to sound more genuine than
rehearsed.

'What does that mean?'
Ahuja asks ignorantly.

“They keep it extra safe with a blank folder view. It's a kind of
encryption” he says, keeping an eye on the door and Roohi.

“How do we get this
thing out?” Ahuja asks.

“I know a guy who decrypts, in your terms ‘get the thing out’ of this. But I am not on talking terms with him. So, I think it's better you go and deal with
it, while I take care of Roohi. We can’t
afford to carry Roohi all round the place. It would be too risky.”

'You are right. Give
me the address and I will deal with it.' Ahuja agrees.

He notes down the
address quickly, and picks up the memory card. “I can't trust you fully, can I? No, not really. So let me lock the two of you and leave.” Ahuja slams the door behind him, not giving
Cyrus enough time to respond.

Cyrus picks up Roohi
in his hands and waits for someone to break in to help. Not much later, Jen and Thorat break in.

“Thanks Cyrus. Good job.” says Jen as she collects Roohi from
him .

“Ahuja has gone to the address you gave me.” Cyrus informs her, not
knowing that Ahuja is already receiving ‘special treatment’ from the cops.

“You don’t have to
worry about it. He is already learning numbers, counting bars. Or rather, the cops are learning numbers
counting his bones,” Thorat says quietly.

“Me and my team are participating in ‘Game Of Blogs’ at BlogAdda.com. #CelebrateBlogging with us.”Next chapter hereLike our page to get the story on your timeline as and when updated!

CHAPTER 29Nice password reflective of the blank content. Is the memory card really blank or is it some form of an encrypted file that does not show up. The technical angle has been thrown up brilliantly. Never thought, Ahuja will draw a blank on IQ! For the trio of Shekar Tara & Roohi a relief is in sight at the end of all the drama preceding. The story has moved on thriller tracks professionally in a clinical mode. The story and the episodes have been beautifully handled by the entire team!